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How the Peugeot Family Saved Their Car Company From Collapse
Description
In 2014, PSA Peugeot Citroën was hours from bankruptcy. The founding family, which had controlled the company since 1810, was diluted to just over 14% ownership after a bailout from the French state and Chinese automaker Dongfeng. Yet the Peugeot family didn't disappear. They rebuilt their stake, retained a board seat, and watched their revived company merge with Fiat-Chrysler to form Stellantis — now the world's fourth-largest automaker. This episode traces how the Peugeot cousins held on through near-total loss of control, why they accepted dilution rather than selling out, and what their decision says about family pride versus financial logic. We also look at a different path: the Ford family, which kept control through special shares, and ask whether the Peugeot approach — stay in the game, even as a minority — can ever work again in capital-intensive industries.